| Jazz |
Anticipation meets revelation: Kandace Springs returns with a luminous tribute to Billie Holiday.
It was eagerly awaited, and it’s finally here, Kandace Springs’ new album is landing on turntables this early May, and it’s sure to surprise. One of the most exquisite voices in contemporary jazz has teamed up with Portugal’s renowned ORQUESTRA CLÁSSICA DE ESPINHO to reimagine Lady in Satin, the legendary 1958 Billie Holiday record. This marks Springs’ fifth album, and perhaps her most ambitious yet, a heartfelt homage to Lady Day from a singer born in the “Music City” itself, Nashville, Tennessee.
A full orchestra, sixty musicians strong, elevates Kandace’s already sumptuous voice into something soaring and sublime. There’s nothing half-measured here. This is an uncompromising, deeply personal interpretation, shaped by what must have been an enormous creative undertaking. Even the album cover pays tribute to its predecessor: where Holiday turned wistfully to the left, Springs faces the camera directly, wearing the iconic white gardenia in her hair, a signature of Lady Day. But make no mistake: Lady in Satin is no imitation. Far from it.
“Billie Holiday is one of my greatest influences, she’s in my DNA,” Springs explains. “But I didn’t want to imitate her. That would be disrespectful.” To avoid falling into mimicry, she immersed herself in the instrumental versions of these cherished standards. “That way, I could find my own way into them.” And indeed, listeners who appreciated her previous album, Run Your Race, a moving tribute to her late father, will notice that Springs’ voice is both more assured and more profoundly expressive than ever. While Holiday remains a guiding light, there’s no need for vocal comparison: Springs possesses a presence all her own, just as powerful, yet entirely distinct.
On Paris Move, I called that last record (Run Your Race – review here) a “major work, proof of Springs’ rare gift for constant reinvention, never missing a step, always staying true.” That path, inevitably, has led her here, to Lady in Satin.
And I’ll say it again: we are in the presence of one of the great jazz vocalists of our time. “I always wanted to make an album in tribute to Billie Holiday,” Springs recalls. “And I always dreamed of working with an orchestra. Eventually, I realized that doing both at once was the perfect way to bring that dream to life.” A friend introduced her to the Orquestra, which just so happened to be looking for exactly this kind of collaboration. “From our very first conversation,” Springs says, “I knew we were going to make something special together.”
Among the tracks are lesser-known gems like “Violets for Your Furs” by Matt Dennis and Tom Adair, first recorded by Frank Sinatra with Tommy Dorsey’s orchestra, and Hoagy Carmichael’s haunting “I Get Along Without You Very Well.” Both songs, long fallen into relative obscurity, are revived with new life here, shaped by Springs’ warm phrasing and nuanced delivery.
Listening to this album, I find myself daydreaming: what if one day we heard Kandace Springs with an orchestra conducted by Anthony Branker? Imagine them both confronting the familiar, reimagining classics, sharing visions, reinventing the jazz tradition, side by side. Who knows? Perhaps one day.
For now, I’ll leave the final word to this brilliant artist herself: “I’ve played amazing gigs with big bands,” Springs says, “but being right in the center of that incredible sound—that was a first.”
From Holiday’s heart to Springs’ lips, this music now belongs to you.
Thierry De Clemensat
Member at Jazz Journalists Association
USA correspondent for Paris-Move and ABS magazine
Editor for All About Jazz
Editor in chief – Bayou Blue Radio, Bayou Blue News
PARIS-MOVE, April 25th 2025
Follow PARIS-MOVE on X
::::::::::::::::::::::
Musicians: Kandace Springs – voice, ORQUESTRA CLÁSSICA DE ESPINHO
Tracklist:
You’ve Changed
You Don’t Know What Love Is
For All We Know
I’m a Fool to Want You
But Beautiful
I’ll Be Around
For Heaven’s Sake
The End of a Love Affair
It’s Easy to Remember
Violets for Your Furs
I Get Along Without You Very Well